Eyelid twitching...do I have a brain tumor??
Patients come in with eyelid twitching, and also usually bring significant anxiety with them! Even with 20/20 vision, they are concerned that something big is going on, maybe even a brain tumor! Luckily, I can reassure them that this is almost never the underlying problem. An eyelid twitch can range from mildly annoying, to a spasm that other people can see when they look at you.
Eyelid twitch is caused by 3 things: Stress, caffeine, and lack of sleep. And these things tend to be related. Stress leads to lack of sleep, which leads to increased use of caffeine, which makes sleep more difficult.
Breaking the circle of stress and sleeplessness can be difficult, but is the key to making this symptom go away. Rarely, the twitch becomes permanent, in which case, Botox can be used to fix the problem.
